


no body, no crime

by t15



Category: Teenage Bounty Hunters (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:34:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28114713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/t15/pseuds/t15
Summary: John Stevens has gone missing, foul play is suspected, and Sterling Wesley is on the case with potential suspects.
Relationships: April Stevens/Sterling Wesley
Comments: 3
Kudos: 71





	no body, no crime

**Author's Note:**

> Named after the Taylor Swift song but doesn’t exactly follow the lyrical plot. It reminded me of something that would play in the background of a TBH episode, so here we go.

Everybody saw the Stevens family at church the day it happened. Nothing was out of the ordinary, in fact it was all painfully ordinary. They were a picturesque version of perfection, dressed in their Sunday best, smiles not quite reaching their eyes just like every week. 

Which is why the town rattles when the news breaks. 

It’s well past the dinner hour when Debbie Wesley gets a text from Lynn Cresswell, depicting a scene of flashing lights and cop cars in front of the Stevens house. She heard from a neighbor, who heard from an officer, who heard from the detective that John Stevens was missing and foul play was very much so suspected.

But with no body and no signs, how can one even pinpoint the crime let alone who committed?

**Mrs. Stevens**

Everybody thinks she did it. The wife of the man who cheated and not with some woman that he had feelings for, but with a prostitute simply because he could and he wanted something different. The jealousy and anger on its own could be enough to push somebody over the edge. Add in the fact that he put his hands on that woman, publicly declaring himself a violent man, and anyone with an ear for gossip can easily spin this into a tragedy struck marriage ending in murder. 

But she’s a wreck all week while the cops sniff out suspects and the local housewives continue to drip hearsay down the grapevine. She’s hardly even seen outside of the house, but Sterling manages to catch her eye one morning as she drops April off to school. 

It lasts only for a second. The woman, usually so prim and proper, looking disheveled and exhausted. However, in the eyes of Mrs. Stevens, Sterling does not see guilt like she saw in the eyes of her mother after their night in the trailer park. Instead she sees something familiar from her own mirror. She sees grief, mourning something that nobody saw coming, the weight of a reveal dragging down the bags under her eyes. Sterling experienced a very small fraction of that feeling after her kidnapping. So in that brief second she pushes all the gossip aside and every easy scapegoat a murder mystery novel has taught her, and she scratches the woman off of her mental list of suspects. 

Her daughter exits the car without so much as exchanging a goodbye and Sterling’s focus shifts to the girl much closer to her heart. The car speeds away, sending Mrs. Stevens back to an empty home. 

**April**

Since the news broke all of Sterling’s texts to April went unanswered. She avoided school for a few days, leaving an open seat in front of her in Spanish class, next to her in Bible Study, and at the head of the Fellowship circle. But it wasn’t just Sterling that noticed the empty space. 

Her absence was known and felt all throughout Willingham. The whispers traveled faster than a hunter to its prey, echoing so loudly around the halls you’d swear the walls were talking too. It was one rumor after another, each person with their own version of the story. The only thing they all knew for certain was that they saw him in church on Sunday and everything was fine. 

When April sets foot in the hallway on her first day back a deafening silence fills the air as the static finally cuts out. A lonely path clears for her to walk through the crowd. Some students pretend they aren’t looking, while others stare unashamed. April, on the other hand, doesn’t look at anybody. She walks as if this was any other day with her head held high and her eyes focused, not daring to falter in front of watching eyes. 

Ezekiel and Hannah B. slip not so subtly into the nearest classroom, very clearly avoiding their friend. Sterling has certainly had her fair share of scrutiny in these halls, familiar with the hollowing feeling of watching the people close to you drift further away. So maybe that’s why her feet move and she approaches the one person nobody else will get within ten feet of. 

“Hey,” she says softly. April peers quickly around her locker, the tension in her body visibly fading when her eyes land on Sterling. “I just wanted to check in. I’m here for you if you need anything.”

“Thanks.” 

April’s voice is firm and her eyes shift back to the insides of her locker, seemingly uninterested in any conversation. 

_She’s best to be avoided when she’s in a biting mood._

The words echo in her mind but Sterling pushes them to the side, much like she did the day they were said to her. “Are you okay?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

There’s no way that question isn’t sarcastic or at least rhetorical. Sterling does not feel safe answering it but April stares expectantly waiting for an answer. 

“Your dad is missing,” she says very slowly, pitching her voice up as if it’s a question, “and the gossip is brutal.” 

“What are they saying?” Sterling sputters, blinking in return as April stands nonchalantly in front of her. She looks calm and collected, but there is a bite to her voice that is threatening to unravel. “I haven’t been here. You can at least fill me in.” 

“Just your classic who done it,” she shrugs, nervously trying to brush it off. 

“And they think we did it?” April once again waits for confirmation. She’s still acting like she’s playing dumb with the way she tilts her head and bats her eyes, but her tone is full of warning. If Sterling was smart she wouldn’t nod, but she does and the slam of April’s locker makes her jump. “If anything we should be looking into you.”

“Me?”

“You and your reckless sister put him in jail,” April reminds her. “Maybe he got out and you wanted to finish it off.” 

“How would that even be possible?”

She crosses her arms defensively. “You were the distraction while Blair did the dirty work.”

Sterling gasps, taken aback by this new theory. But after a brief second of panic and a sharp ache at the accusation, she comes back down to earth. 

“April, come on,” she sighs, taking a small step in to hopefully ground the girl in front of her. “It’s me. You can’t possibly believe that.” 

“I don’t know what to think of anyone anymore.” Her voice sounds defeated and April’s arms drop down to her sides as she shifts back to create more space between them. “All I know is that he went out for a bit after church and never came back. Normally they wait twenty-four hours to declare someone missing, but he clearly has friends in high places.” 

“April.” Sterling reaches out but the girl’s hand moves quickly, telling her to stop. “I’m sorry you’re going through this. I can’t imagine-” 

“Just leave me alone please,” she begs. The tone is entirely unfamiliar to Sterling as it’s so very out of character for April. “I can’t do this right now.” 

She nods, earning a very slight but grateful smile before April walks off. 

**Sterling**

As ridiculous as it sounds Sterling tries to think of herself as a suspect, retracing her steps to see how anyone (April) might connect her to the missing John Stevens. 

Like everyone else in this town Sterling last saw him at church on Sunday. So on the surface she doesn’t look like anyone special to consider. However, the girl she was talking to after mass has knowledge well beyond surface level.

“They really tied you up in a bathroom?”

“Even gagged me. They were pretty efficient.” 

She says it lightly enough for a laugh or else she might cry, but it doesn’t get past April, who is well aware of that underlying intention. 

“That sounds really scary.” 

Sterling just shrugs. While it may be breaking news around town, her kidnapping was placed neatly in the rearview at her own request. The Wesley’s as a family managed to keep it under wraps for a short time, but a cop on the scene was somebody’s cousin and the story eventually went wild. 

“What did he have to say about it?” she asks, nodding in the direction of April’s family. Her gaze shifts momentarily towards her father, rolling her eyes as they meet Sterling’s once again. 

“He’s just glad the attention isn’t on us anymore.”

“And you?”

The question slipped out before she could stop herself, oozing with an insecurity and neediness that she’s certain April will scoff at. 

She doesn’t. 

“I’m just glad you’re okay,” she says softly instead. Their fingers brush against one another and for a second Sterling thinks it’s an accident. But April’s touch lingers too long to be a simple mistake and without breaking eye contact, she even hooks a finger around one of Sterling’s. 

“April!” 

Their tender moment is interrupted by a harsh voice belonging to none other than John Stevens and April retracts her hand.

“Coming!” 

She looks at Sterling apologetically as if she would regret walking away, but they both know John won’t ask again. “Bye Sterl,” she adds, sneaking one last touch and a smile reminiscent of their short time together. 

With her heart fluttering in her chest, Sterling watches April go with a longing stare that she forgets to conceal, earning herself a wrathful glare from the girl’s father. 

**Bowser**

She’s so deep in conversation with Blair that she doesn’t even notice the cop car in the parking lot. Neither of them do. They just continue with their banter and giggling until it all comes to a sudden stop upon seeing the man up at the counter with a notepad in his hand. 

“Hi girls,” Bowser says with what feels like a rehearsed steadiness. “Officer Brant is just asking me about that missing person.”

“Mr. Stevens?”

“Yes, exactly,” Brant answers. “He was here on Sunday night.” 

“How do you know that?”

It is certainly news to Sterling, who’s been to Yogurtopia a few times since the news broke. Bowser never mentioned a word about it. 

“We tracked his phone to this location.” 

To her surprise he then holds up the device in his hand. If they have his phone then they’re definitely closer to having answers and for some reason they think Bowser holds the key. Sterling gulps at the thought. 

“I already told you that he left it by mistake,” Bowser grumbles through a clenched jaw. “He came in, got enough yogurt for a family, and forgot it right here on the counter.” 

His answer rolls off like he’s said it a few times now, but steadiness from before is slipping away as hints of frustration begin to show. 

“Did he pay by card?”

“Nope, cash.”

“And the fact that you collected the reward on his bounty never came up?” he questions through a narrowed gaze. Bowser doesn’t falter. 

“Not once.” 

Brant writes something down on his notepad, missing the way Bowser rolls his eyes. He then turns his attention to the girls and Sterling’s nerves multiply. “Did you ladies see Mr. Stevens here on Sunday?”

“They were off this weekend,” Bowser says for them. His answer is firm and final. 

She glances to Blair who hasn’t said a word this whole time and is very intentionally avoiding her stare. Sterling’s internally screaming for her twin's attention but the girl doesn’t budge. 

“So let me get this straight,” Officer Brant starts, “the security cameras were being replaced, you were alone, and there is no credit card receipt that proves he bought anything?” 

“I never said I was alone,” Bowser corrects him, much to Brant’s surprise. “I can give you the contact information of the woman that was here.” 

“Okay,” he agrees, a skeptical smile curling across his lips, “let’s start there.” 

**Blair**

Sterling flips the wipers up a notch as she turns into an empty parking spot. The rain has picked up quite a bit on her way over. What started out as only a drizzle is now a full blown thunderstorm rolling in from the north, making the afternoon sunshine feel long forgotten. 

“You sure you’re not coming?” 

“Yeah,” she says, noticing her phone buzz in the cup holder. “I’ll swing back to pick you up whenever.” 

“Okay,” her sister shrugs, “weird, but I’ll see you later.” 

Blair hops out, thankfully without any questions, and runs into the store to get out of the rain. Now alone in the car Sterling checks the message on her phone. 

_**April Stevens**  
I’m here._

_**Sterling Wesley**  
I’ll be there in five._

April is waiting in the deserted Willingham student parking lot just like they planned. It was a move they orchestrated after their unfinished moment at church that morning. Sterling had been attached to her phone throughout the afternoon, participating in a back and forth with April Stevens that felt all too familiar, when the girl suggested they meet up for old times sake. 

She hurries to meet Sterling in the backseat of the Volt, thunder roaring overhead as the door closes them in and they come face to face. 

“Hi,” she says breathlessly. Her hair is messier than it was earlier, likely from the rain. Her dress is the same, still in her Sunday best, but this time her smile reaches her eyes and that makes all the difference. 

“Nasty out there, huh?” 

April nods and shifts in closer, her body shivering underneath damp clothes. “What happened to your church outfit?” she asks, tugging playfully at the hem of Sterling’s shirt. “It was cute.”

“You don’t like this one?”

“No, I do,” she answers quickly. Sterling raises an eyebrow in return and watches as April’s cheeks flush. She bashfully ducks her head. “Stop it.” 

“Stop what?”

“Looking at me like that.”

“Like what?” 

Sterling tilts her head, waiting for a response, but April doesn’t say anything. She just kisses her, pulling Sterling close enough to feel her rain soaked clothes through the warmth of her own. And when that isn’t close enough she climbs into her lap and Sterling forgets all the things she told herself on the way over.

She forgets that they aren’t at all back together or whatever they were before. That John Stevens is still very much so a threat. That April’s resurfaced desire for a secret rendezvous is in direct response to her guilt over Sterling’s kidnapping and the events of the lock in. 

All of that so easily gets pushed aside when she gets to wrap her arms around her waist and kiss April like she used to, watching as the rest of the world fades away and the pounding of the rain simply gets overshadowed by her own heartbeat. 

_**April Stevens**  
I had fun tonight._

_**Sterling Wesley**  
Me too!!_

Sterling manages to peel her eyes off her phone for a second to glance into the store windows. Oddly enough the lights are out and there isn’t a car in sight. She dials Blair for a second time and listens to the ringing until it annoyingly goes to voicemail again. 

_**April Stevens**  
I really missed you._

Her narrowed gaze quickly softens and her smile turns into a grin, but before Sterling can answer a message comes in from her sister.

_**Blair Wesley**  
Sorry dude!! Yolanda gave me a ride._

She sighs, disappointed, but doesn’t give it a second thought. Sterling simply pulls out of the parking space to head home for the night, only thinking about how she cut her time with April short when Blair wasn’t even at Yogurtopia anymore. 

**Yolanda**

The week after John goes missing Sterling doesn’t see a lot of Yolanda. She gives Bowser a big case to hopefully keep them entertained for a while and leaves town to go on a couples getaway with Terrance. But she’s back two days later instead of three and they still haven’t found their skip. 

“If he’s too big for you, I can pass him off to someone else,” she says as if it would be doing Bowser a favor. That only gets under his skin more. 

“You just want to give the big bucks to your boyfriend.”

“Ex-boyfriend,” she corrects, bringing the room to a dead silence. 

The twins lean forward in their seats, trying to make sure they heard that correctly. “You broke up?” they gasp at the same time. 

“Duh, why do you think I’m back a day early?”

“Good point.”

“Very fair.” 

Sterling and Blair exchange a look, knowing this might be Bowser’s golden opportunity if they could just catch the damn skip and get Yolanda on board. Without speaking a word they’re both on the same page and Blair is taking Bowser out of the office dramatically rambling about an exploding fudge pump. 

Yolanda doesn’t say anything or seem to notice the fake story, but Sterling knows her sister will only be able to buy her a few minutes maximum. So she breaks the silence, “I recently went through a bit of a breakup myself.”

“No offence,” Yolanda starts, “but I don’t think your three day secret girlfriend really compares.” Sterling stares wide-eyed with a dumbfounded expression as the woman returns her gaze to her phone. “Bowser told me.” 

“Oh,” she mouths, now recalculating a new approach. “Would it be inappropriate if I asked what happened?”

“Yes.” Her answer is firm and she never even looks up for eye contact. Sterling is about to give up the mission when the woman continues, “I just wanted something different.”

“How so?”

“I thought Blair was the nosey one.” Yolanda crosses her arms, causing Sterling to shrink back in her seat. 

“Sorry ma’am.”

“Oh, don’t call me that.” Apparently being called ma’am is worse than sharing her relationship drama with a teenager, because Yolanda decides to answer Sterling’s question. “I want to be with someone who will have my back through anything, you know?” 

Before she can push the limits any further, Bowser comes barreling back into the room with Blair right on his heels, somehow both splattered with fudge. She looks expectantly at Sterling, who nods to confirm that the plan is in motion. 

**Anderson**

The night before John goes missing Anderson is acting strange. The twins find him in the kitchen amongst a clutter of pots and pans, temporarily finding placement along the countertops. Every drawer and cabinet is open as he rummages through the disarray, desperately searching for something. 

“What the fuck?”

He jumps at the sound of Blair’s voice, apparently unaware that they had returned home from their afternoon stakeout. “Language,” he mutters, waving his hand in dismissal like it’s no big deal. 

“Where’s mom?”

“Not sure.” He doesn’t pause for a second to look to Sterling. Instead his eyes scan the mess with a focused stare, hoping to spot something he might have missed. “I just got home myself.” 

“Well are we gonna have dinner soon?” her sister asks. “We skipped lunch and I’m starving.”

“I don’t know, Blair.” Anderson’s tone is much sharper than normal. His usual patience is nowhere to be found, and neither is whatever he keeps looking for. 

“Is everything okay?”

“God, Sterling,” he huffs, pinching the bridge of his nose and shaking his head. “I’m kinda in the middle of something. I’m going hunting with Deacon after church and I can’t find my gun.” 

“The little one that was on the counter?”

“That mom yelled at you for?”

“Yes,” he sighs, answering both questions. “I only left it out because I was trying to get everything packed for tomorrow.” 

“Don’t you have another one you can use?” Sterling suggests. “That one isn’t good for hunting anyway.”

“I don’t want to.” Frustration gets the best of him in a rare moment, causing Sterling to look away. She hears him take a deep breath. “Listen,” Anderson starts, much softer this time, “losing a gun is serious. I’m just a little wound up.” 

“I understand.” 

The twins exchange a worried look as he rushes out of the kitchen, both flinching when another door slams. “I vote we bail on whatever this is and get Chick-fil-A.” 

**Debbie**

Her mother returns home from the store complaining about the rain and without any grocery bags. Sterling assumes she heard wrong, still lightheaded and dazed from her time with April, and decides not to ask why the woman was empty handed. Her father still isn’t back from hunting and Blair has strangely turned in early for the night. The last thing she wants is to annoy the one person keeping her company with too many questions. 

Debbie pours herself a post-dinner glass of wine, which she only does after a long day, and settles onto the living room couch. “It’s a good night for the fireplace, don’t you think?”

Sterling nods, taking the hint and throwing on a log. Eventually the room warms up and she no longer feels chilled to the bone from the rain. The crackling of the fire is even relaxing as she sits in a comfortable silence with her mother. 

That silence is broken when the woman sighs. Sterling glances up from her phone in time to see Debbie shaking her head at her own. “What?”

“Just another tragedy for the Stevens family.” 

Sterling’s heart drops and for a moment she even stops breathing. She remembers how John Stevens had looked at her after church when she carelessly stared at April. She remembers how desperate and greedy they both got today, talking and touching while the man was so close by. She remembers how risky it was to be texting all afternoon and then meeting on a Sunday evening when he would likely be at home. And so she is not the slightest bit surprised when her voice trembles, “What tragedy? What happened?” 

“Something about John,” she answers calmly, eyes still glued to her phone. “The police are over there now treating the place like a crime scene.” 

Sterling sends the first of her many unanswered texts to April. 

_**Sterling Wesley**  
Are you okay???_

The next twenty minutes are brutal. She asks her mom for an update three times, paces around the room, considers pouring her own glass of wine and just dealing with the consequences, repeatedly checks her phone, and takes up an old habit in biting her nails. 

And throughout the whole thing she can’t understand how her mom isn’t more concerned. Obviously she doesn’t have the same entanglements with the Stevens family that Sterling does, but she is uncomfortably nonchalant and unaware while her daughter is teetering on a breakdown. 

Lynn Cresswell’s next text finally comes in as Debbie is finishing her glass of wine. “He’s been reported missing.” 

**The Final Pieces**

Sterling scans the case file for their latest skip, trying to get a new angle. He’s been a ghost ever since he made bail and they have no leads whatsoever. It certainly doesn’t help that every time she puts a thought in motion it gets cut short by Blair or Yolanda pushing one of Bowser’s buttons. She does her best to block it out, but something suddenly catches her ear. 

Blair jokes about walking home alone in a thunderstorm, saying that Bowser owes her one, and the gears in Sterling’s head start to turn. 

The only recent storm that comes to mind blew in on a Sunday evening when Blair was at Yogurtopia and Sterling had met up with April. She remembers every detail of that night, regularly letting her stomach flip with the thought of damp clothes, soft hands, and needy kisses. But the roller coaster comes to a crashing halt when she remembers why the night was cut short and the horrors that later unfolded. 

“I thought Yolanda drove you home.”

Silence fills the room while the three of them stare blankly back at her, each one hoping the other says something. 

Yolanda breaks the silence with a nervous laugh. “You think I rolled up to your neighborhood in this thing?” she questions, pointing around the RV. “That would certainly leave your parents with a few questions.” 

“Why didn’t you just ask me to pick you up then?”

“I needed a shower anyway,” Blair carelessly dismisses, “so it actually worked out.” 

Sterling doesn’t buy it. There’s too many holes in the story for it to add up. Why would Blair lie if she was perfectly fine walking home? Why would she be perfectly fine walking home when they had plans for Sterling to pick her up? Why would Bowser lie and say she wasn’t at the store that night? Her mind can only jump to one conclusion and it is not one that she likes. 

“What happened when John Stevens came in?” 

“He got yogurt,” Bowser grumbles, snatching the file back from her. He tries to look busy in order to avoid questions but Sterling doesn’t fall for it. Not this time. She presses on. 

“What else happened?” 

The two adults avoid her gaze but Blair doesn’t, and Sterling knows just how to get through to her sister. A long stare leaves her squirming in her seat, resistance slowly crumbling until she can’t take it anymore. “Okay, I tap out.” 

“Blair!”

“I’m sorry, Bowser,” she says, cracking under the pressure. “I can’t do it. Not with Sterling.” 

He mutters something under his breath about “stupid teenagers” and looks for Yolanda’s approval. She nods, taking his hand, and officially gives Blair the go ahead. 

Her sister begins the long story of how Mr. Stevens came into the store knowing that they would be there. He even asked for Sterling. 

Upon learning that she wouldn’t be coming he pulled out a gun and not just any gun, but their father’s missing one. 

“That means he was in our house and he had this planned,” Blair explains, terror thick in her voice. She’s hardly slept since it happened. 

He had them both at gunpoint by the counter, too far from their supplies in the office for a safe counterattack or even a stupid one that involed Blair launching a fudge pump at his face. 

A desperate Bowser was in the middle of trying to talk him down when Yolanda came in the store, stumbling onto the scene relatively unnoticed. She acted fast, whacking the man over the head from behind, and he dropped to the floor. 

Blair had shakily asked if he was dead or just unconscious and she never got her answer. Instead Bowser dragged her out to the parking lot as thunder rumbled through a dark sky. “Go home,” he told her. “You were never here.” 

And so she walked home in the pouring rain, knowing not to get anyone else involved.

John’s car eventually turns up by the lakehouse and they find his empty boat out on the water, despite it being off season. After nearly everyone had been a suspect the town abandons their theories for something new. 

The gossip starts to tell a story of a man running away from his past and drowning in the lake right by his fancy house. Some call it tragic, some call it pathetic, but nobody is calling it murder. 

Search teams scour the murky water for weeks but no body is found, no fingerprints are recovered, and no weapon ever appears. He just vanished, disappearing as suddenly as he returned. And once the murmuring speculation starts to grow old, everyone seems to go back to normal. 

There’s a new rumor at school about Lorna hooking up with a boy on the football team, making April Stevens just another student in the halls once again. She still leads with pride, never settling into the background, simply living free of their scrutiny for now. 

The housewives return to their routine of book club, wine, and nights at the country club (not that Mrs. Stevens ever attends or is even invited to join). They too find new things to talk about, glossing over a murder case as if it were the latest scandal of teen rebellion. It gets neatly tucked away like it never happened, which annoyingly can’t even be said for Sterling’s one night college party. 

Along with the forgotten rumors, the actual truth is never spoken of. Yolanda and Bowser never say another word about it, refusing to let the girls be any more involved than they already are, which Sterling is thankful for. Yolanda had protected her sister and now Bowser was protecting the both of them. Should any evidence ever be found, the twins could easily be left out of the equation. 

“They closed the case today,” April says, moonlight bouncing off her face in the backseat of Sterling’s car. “Called it a drowning.”

“Even though they didn’t...?”

She doesn’t quite have the heart to say _find your dad’s body_ but April connects the dots. “The lake goes deep and there is apparently a lot of debris down there.” 

“Oh.” 

Sterling is well aware that she should be more articulate at a time like this, especially for April’s sake, but she can’t help it. Her insides feel all twisted. Her heart hasn’t stopped pounding since they paused their kissing, only to segue into a conversation about murder of all things. But there’s something about the look in April’s eyes that snaps her out of it. 

“How do you feel about that?” 

“I don’t think it’s true, but I’m happy it’s over,” she answers matter of factly. 

April has a talent for boiling the most complicated situations down into something simple and often logic based. Sterling has been aware of that for quite some time. However, more recently, she’s seen that with a little patience and effort the true underlying emotions can often scratch the surface. 

“He was awful when he came back,” she adds after Sterling had let their silence sit for a moment. “At first when this happened it was overwhelming and scary, but eventually things died down and it just got peaceful.” April exhales a long breath, trying to calm the internal battle so obviously playing out in her head. “Is that terrible?”

Sterling shakes her head. “I don’t think so.”

“He probably ran off somewhere or got himself killed, right?”

There’s a desperation to her voice, needing a confirmation or at least a second opinion. But it’s a loaded question that Sterling doesn’t quite know how to answer. 

“Maybe.” 

“I hope it’s the second one,” April admits. The confession seems to even surprise her. “Not that I want him dead. I just want this to be over. The thought of him randomly reappearing is...chilling.” 

“I think it’s over,” Sterling assures her, taking the girl’s warm hand and entwining their fingers. 

April stares back for a moment too long, her eyes much too focused to just be looking. She’s reading, and based off the way her face changes she probably has an answer. 

Right as Sterling is bracing herself for an interrogation, which she technically doesn’t have the answers to anyway, April shrugs, brushing off whatever she thinks she found. “No body, no crime.”

**Author's Note:**

> Just a weird little idea I had. Hope you had fun with it.


End file.
